Sonsoles Ónega wins the Premio Planeta with Las hijas de la criada

On 27 October 2023, the Spanish journalist and television presenter Sonsoles Ónega won the Premio Planeta with her novel Las hijas de la criada (The Maid's Daughters). The award is presented each year at a gala in Barcelona by the publisher Grupo Planeta.

The Premio Planeta is among the best-known and best-paid literary prizes in the Spanish-speaking world, with a top prize of one million euros. Winning it usually brings a very large print run and heavy media attention in Spain and Latin America.

Ónega was already well known to the public through her work in broadcasting, and the win placed her firmly among the country's leading authors of popular historical fiction. The novel quickly became a bestseller.

The prize also set the stage for the story's later life on screen. The book was adapted into a television series, first broadcast on Atresplayer and Antena 3, which later reached a wider international audience on Netflix.